


five times someone on the team realized Keith and Shiro were together, and one time they didn't have to

by kk-paladin (kk_writer)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Help, Hunk cooks, I wrote this a while ago, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, M/M, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, My first fic overall, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Pidge is smart, Pre season 2 really, Protective Keith (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Slash I used a ton of tropes, Slightly submissive Shiro, These characters are way too easy to write for, omg, pre-season 3, tropey tropes, what else do i tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 09:35:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12340095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kk_writer/pseuds/kk-paladin
Summary: Pidge notices everything and Lance notices nothing; aka, five times someone on the team realized Keith and Shiro were together, and one time they didn't have to.5+1yes, that old gemIn honor of the new season coming out *tomorrow*, I wanted to get this posted! Quite possibly goes off-canon in season 1.My first ever fanfic woo





	five times someone on the team realized Keith and Shiro were together, and one time they didn't have to

\- 1 - Pidge

It's easy to look at Shiro and see what makes him a great leader. Beyond the technical skill and know-how, there's a sharp intelligence, a level-headed confidence that means he can make tough decisions in the heat of battle. He's probably the most trustworthy person Pidge has ever met, outside of her family. And he's also really intuitive. People trust Shiro because he sees them as they are, accepts their flaws and differences, and still pushes them to do better. 

That's not to say Shiro is perfect. She's seen him struggle, make bad decisions that cost the team. But when Shiro makes mistakes, he finds a way to fix it, to move forward. Shiro trusts and respects the team as much as, if not more than, they've learned to trust and respect him. 

Pidge, on the other hand, is more of a solitary person. She's happy with her tech, happy with keeping just a few people close. Like her family. Dad and Matt are constantly on her mind. 

It's been months since Pidge jumped on a blue lion spaceship and left Earth behind, knowing that any step closer to finding whoever took her family was a step in the right direction. 

But Shiro was one of the reasons Pidge decided to stay with the paladins. She knows the team has her back, and one day, when they do find her family, she knows they'll all be at her side, battling Galra armies to get them back. 

It's kind of nice, to give up the one-woman search and rescue mission and rely on her team a little. It's like she told Shiro - they're part of something bigger. 

So it's with no trepidation that when Pidge starts noticing something new about her teammates - something that a few months ago might have shaken her confidence in the team - Pidge just takes it in stride. She knows Shiro well enough by now (and Keith, for that matter) to know they can handle a little personal involvement without jeopardizing the team. 

What surprises Pidge, though, is that no one else seems to notice. Keith's a bit of an enigma, sure. But he treats them all with the same cold, brooding distance. (Seriously, she's never seen anyone brood as much as this guy.) And no one seems to notice just how differently Keith acts around Shiro than he does around the rest of the team. 

All the paladins already know that Keith and Shiro have some sort of bond. When Pidge joined her two fellow Garrison students on their surprise rescue-Shiro mission back on Earth, Keith was already there. He knew Shiro, was clearly prepared to do anything for the guy. 

Not to mention how hard it is to hide your thoughts and emotions when they form Voltron. Somehow, in the mystical Altean-supernatural-science tech that created Voltron and the castle (and Pidge is totally going to get to the bottom of that tech of one of these days), they can kinda sense each other's moods and communicate with just their thoughts. Shiro's almost always a steadying presence, but Keith, the slightly more volatile paladin, projects little beyond his intense, single-minded focus - unless Shiro's lion is under attack. Then, a heated flash of anger and protective rage bursts through their bond and at best urges them all into action - at worst, it distracts them and results in Shiro needing to pull everyone back in line. 

But that would be understandable. Pidge could write off Keith's reactions as heat-of-the-moment, adrenaline-fueled fear for his friend. She could write it off, that is, if it weren't for everything else. 

Like the other day, they were all sitting down to lunch, and Shiro walked by the table on his way to the kitchen. Just walked by, nothing remarkable happened - except for Keith. He looked up, and his whole demeanor changed. No longer the quiet, brooding paladin blatantly ignoring the antics of his teammates, Keith straightened up in his chair, tilted his head, and got this wry smile on his face. And his eyes followed Shiro all the way across the room, like Shiro was the only one there. Pidge had never seen anyone act like that, except her parents. It was strange to see Keith so openly focused on someone else. And then some teasing argument between Lance and Hunk broke out into a playful shoving match, and Keith's focus came back to the others at the table, and he rolled his eyes and sat back as if nothing had happened. 

Or the time they were geared up for training with the gladiator and Shiro was giving one of his rousing speeches and for a second, he glanced at Keith, and faltered - just stuttered a little. Not really all that telling, except Shiro actually started *blushing*, and looking adorably - and uncharacteristically - bashful, before clearing his throat, and shaking his head a little, and getting back to his speech. 

Seriously, how was no one noticing this? 

And it's surprisingly not worrisome at all for Pidge. They still go on missions, and Shiro still makes the same level-headed calls. They still train for hours a day, and they keep getting better as a team.

So it's more for her own amusement that Pidge keeps this discovery to herself. If it ever becomes a problem, she'll know it. But maybe her teammates deserve some happiness out here. Obviously, Fearless Leader and the grumpy palladin aren't making efforts to hide their relationship - true, they're not exactly announcing it to the world, either. But then, that's not really in Keith's nature, at least. Shiro takes his role as leader of the paladins seriously, so if he's not making any announcements, Pidge is content to sit back and see what happens. And maybe laugh at her teammates' obliviousness for a while. 

***

\- 2 - Hunk

Long day, long mission, and seriously, no one even tried to stop for dinner on the way back to the castle. Instead, they all ignored Hunk's pleas, as usual, and insisted on making up for lost time. They're flying by some planets that Hunk knows for a fact they could stop at, that might have some prime goods for trading, but *no*, gotta stick to the plan. 

And the plan never involves food. 

Seriously, without Hunk, he's pretty sure his teammates would starve. Or eat green goo forever, which isn't that great of an alternative. 

Hunk knows he has a few things squirreled away in the kitchen somewhere, and he's already excited to get back so he can try out some of his new ideas. It would have been nice, though, to take advantage of the travel time to find some newer, better stuff. There's a whole *universe* of possibilities, but everyone's too focused on Voltron to venture out and explore. They've gotta have some down-time, right? His team has some backwards priorities sometimes. 

And it was kind of a stressful mission today. Not because it was particularly difficult or dangerous, but they didn't quite get along as well as usual. Something was off. 

When Hunk gets stressed out, or is winding down from a mission, or is angry or sad or homesick or having emotions in general, he turns to creative hobbies like cooking as a way to clear his mind. And it definitely helps that it makes his teammates happy at the same time. Like Lance. Poor guy still gets homesick, just like the rest of them - well, like most of them. He's sure Allura and Coran miss their old planet and ways of life, and there's no way for those two to return home, like there is for the rest of the team. They'd have to go back in time 10,000 years to a planet that doesn't even exist any more. How insane is that? 

So he's doing the team a service, giving back a little. Being a good guy. 

And, not to brag or anything, but Hunk takes food prep to a whole new level. Cooking with alien ingredients? Check. Identifying health and nutrition value of mysterious and possibly poisonous plants? Check. He's got a solid understanding of biology and chemistry, and a healthy dose of creativity. And he likes taking care of people. Which is way better than Keith, who mostly just yells at everyone.

Seriously, part of the reason he's stressed out today, he knows, is because Keith made everything difficult on this mission. Snapping at everyone, getting easily frustrated, running off on his own. He's a bit of a hot-head. But like usual, Shiro brought everyone together, and they saved the day. 

So Hunk is a little disappointed, but not surprised, when Shiro calls the team together for a debriefing and then sends them all to bed. 

But he decides to take a few minutes to change out of his clunky paladin armor and makes his way back to the kitchen anyway. 

He's in the back, digging around for the dried plant he found last week (when soaked in water and mashed, it had the consistency of bean paste), when he hears something strange. Like, someone...laughing? 

Is that Keith? Because seriously, he could count the number of times he's heard Keith really, seriously laugh on one hand. Or less. Less than one hand? What's less than one hand? ... Huh.

Hunk pokes his head around the doorway to see what's going on.

Sitting at the table are Keith and Shiro. A weirdly happy Keith and a weirdly...weird Shiro. 

Keith is bent over, floppy hair in his face, cackling like a madman. And Shiro's got this easy smile on his face, and his whole body is angled toward Keith's, one hand resting on Keith's shoulder. Maybe another on his knee under the table. It's hard to tell from this vantage point. Hunk figures out pretty quickly that maybe he's not supposed to be here for this. 

He scrambles back to the kitchen, trying to make as little noise as possible, and goes back to his cooking project. But what the heck, it's late - everyone will be up soon, anyway. So he decides to make something out of the bean-paste thing. They found a sweet honey substance, something similar to rice flour, and something with the basic consistency of egg whites a while back, and maybe, just maybe, he can whip up something like the red bean paste filled mochi he remembers from his favorite cafe back home. 

By the time Hunk finally covers up and chills his creation and heads out of the kitchen to bed (the sooner he sleeps, the sooner they can sample alien mochi!), Keith and Shiro are gone. It's like they were never there. Hunk has a moment where he wonders if he even saw what he thinks he saw. Because Hunk's pretty good at reading people, and that situation did not look like just a casual hang-out between bros. It looked like really, really close friends blowing off steam, like maybe Shiro was going out of his way to make Keith happy. And their body language was so...familiar. Intimate? 

It could have just been some sort of sleep-deprived, hunger-driven delusion though, right? 

Right. 

Hunk decides he'll think about it another day. He trundles off to bed, scratching his head in confusion along the way. Hopefully things will make more sense in the morning. 

***

\- 3 - Coran

"You know, princess, we really must take into account - "

"The ship's defense system, yes, yes, I know, Coran. But for now we must focus on repairs. Not to mention contacting the leader of the Palea nation to request an appearance at the upcoming strategic battle summit in the G89 star system. And we must plan our next mission - "

"There is a lot to think about, Princess, but don't worry, I'm sure it'll all work ou-ooOO! Great Garjooling Gandras!" 

Allura, walking several steps behind Coran as she took furious notes on her tablet, stopped in her tracks and glanced up at Coran, who had just rounded a corner. 

"What on Altea is it, Coran?" 

Coran hesitated only for the briefest moment, but in that moment he caught more than enough of a glimpse of what was happening just down the next hall, where a most unforeseen spectacle was taking place. 

It would appear that the red paladin, one Keith Kogane, had the paladin leader, one Takashi Shirogane, backed against an alcove in one of the main hallways in what would appear to be an aggressive manner, except for the intimate angle of their bodies and the quite enraptured look on the face of the older man as his head turned to one side, not registering Coran's presence at all. The younger soldier was pressing his companion's hands to the wall and positively ravaging the man's neck and collarbone. Coran was sure the black paladin possessed the strength to break his bonds if he so desired, but perhaps not in this state - he looked unsteady enough to keel right over were it not for the body in front of him exerting significant force to keep him upright. 

"Oh, no no no, Princess, I've just remembered, we must get back to the main control unit!" Coran realized his voice must sound shrill and ridiculous, but the Princess merely regarded him with cool irritation. 

"Right now? But we've just come from the main control unit!"

"Don't I know, my lady! But we forgot something very important, very very important indeed - "

"Well, what is it, Coran? Honestly, with your scattered thoughts, it's a wonder we get anything accomplished."

"How very right you are. This way, come along!" 

And Coran turned on heel and quickly ushered them back from whence they came. 

Coran didn't really mind acting like a crazy person to keep their palace business from interrupting that scene in the hall.

But it was quite a scene at that. Who knew? Two paladins, finding love on their ship. It was enough to make him tear up a little, and long for the days he himself found the occasional romantic partner among fellow castle protectors - he thought of one warrior in particular, Jyra, whose fierce friendship and casual intimacy he missed with an ache he felt deep in his bones. They still had no way to know if any of their fellow Alteans had made it out alive, but Jyra and the others, even if they had made it safely to another planet somewhere, were certainly very, very long-gone by now. It was a difficult thought to wrap one's head around, even in the best of times. 

Yes, he'd leave those two paladins to their shenanigans, and prevent anyone else from breaking up the romance, as much as he could. What happiness two people can find in the midst of such chaotic times as these should truly be cherished. 

***

\- 4 - Allura

Allura had always taken her role as Crown Princess to the throne of Altea very seriously. Her father, her mentor and biggest supporter, had encouraged and inspired Allura's interest in becoming a skilled leader and diplomat. He made many mistakes, to be true. But he was a good man, and a good king, who would do anything to protect his people and keep powerful weapons out of the hands of those who would use them to destroy the universe. 

And he had taught Allura that being a leader of Altea meant so much more than leading those people under their direct ruling. 

As a young child, Allura accompanied her father and his advisors on peacemaking and rescue missions alike to planets near and far. They would always strive to uphold the tenets of Altean culture and treat each being they encountered with respect and dignity. Each time they visited a new planet, they observed first, and later intervened where possible, and where their help was desired, to improve the lives of those living there - by helping to rebuild, teaching new skills and technologies, forming alliances. 

Allura lost everything when Altea came under attack and those in the castle were placed under stasis. She'd had to surrender one of the few remaining threads of her past when her father's hologram was destroyed, taking with it his memories and his steadfast guidance. 

All that she has left now is Coran, the closest thing she has to her Altean family and heritage, and the mice. 

But she also has those guiding principles that made her nation one of the biggest threats to Zarkon's tyrannical rule. 

She would do anything in her power to bring Zarkon's destruction to an end. To liberate those left powerless by his hand, and to rebuild a safer, more prosperous, more unified presence in his wake. 

But perhaps she should also be thinking of the future. In her severed isolation from her own culture's history, perhaps branching out, making connections, would help that rebuilding process in a way that technology and diplomacy never could. 

And maybe, just maybe, between their missions when all was peaceful and she had hope for the future, Allura was a little lonely. She found that she desired a more long-term connection to other people beyond those she had accumulated with the paladins as partners in battle. If they were to rebuild the Altean nation, she would have to begin building a strong foundation of interpersonal connections, a core group of individuals who would remain loyal to her leadership and her goals - people she could count on for the future, beyond Zarkon. Something to give them all hope, something to live for. 

There were many among this crew that would likely wish to return to Earth once Zarkon was defeated. But there were others - true pioneers whose knowledge and skills could be of unparalleled use in the rebuilding of a more just and peaceful empire - who might consider forming longer-term alliances. 

It was with all this in mind that Allura made an offhanded comment hinting to Shiro, one of the most skilled leaders she had ever met, that perhaps they should get to know each other better. She had suggested a dinner between the two of them, in particular. 

Looking back on the moment, Allura can see how Shiro might have misinterpreted her intentions. Before the fall of Altea, she'd had yet to reach an age where she was expected to entertain suitors; there had been more important things for her to focus on. 

But perhaps asking, "Would you like to sit down for a private dinner sometime, just the two of us?" might come across as flirtatious in human culture. Perhaps in Altean culture, as well - it was not like Allura would know from first-hand experience. 

But Shiro's startled expression and apparent discomfort, so uncharacteristic for the normally level-headed paladin, was enough to give Allura pause. Even more so when he began apologetically explaining his involvement with someone else. But what would that have to do with the future of the Altean empire? Perhaps Shiro had met someone on one of the many planets they'd visited, and he'd already planned to make his home there one day? 

"Shiro, I think perhaps we're misunderstanding each other," she had cut in, stopping him in the middle of saying something about how he was truly flattered but would have to decline her offer. 

"Oh! Okay. Umm...what did you mean, then?" Shiro had asked. 

"Of course I understand if you're too preoccupied at the moment, and perhaps this conversation should wait for another day, a day when we're closer to defeating Zarkon's armies for good. But I've been thinking a lot about the challenges we've faced, even with Voltron on our side. There may come a day when we need to locate and train new paladins, rendering Voltron out of commission for the interim. Or we may lose one or more of the lions and need to find some way to rebuild them. 

"Simply put," she'd continued, "we will not always be able to rely singularly on Voltron as our primary line of defense. We must begin building alliances, forming our plans for the future. 

"I was hoping to discuss whether you might serve as an advisor. Your military background would be well-suited to planning long-term, peaceful alliances across dozens, perhaps hundreds of planets."

"You want...oh. You want advice...on how to convince different planets to join into an alliance with us?"

"Yes! That about sums it up," she had replied. "...If you don't mind me asking, though, you mentioned a personal involvement that would prevent you from dining with me - and I apologise for not making myself more clear, but would you care to elaborate?"

"You - ah, well. It's not really that important. Although, maybe it is. Everyone's going to find out soon enough, but you should know that Keith and I are...ah, we're...involved." 

"Involved...oh! do you mean in a romantic sense?" Allura had asked, and Shiro had confirmed. 

Allura had then taken a moment to think over what this might mean for the team. So many interactions between the two paladins suddenly made far more sense. But - 

"Do you feel that this will have a negative impact on your abilities to fight alongside each other, to form Voltron?" she had asked. 

Shiro had sighed. "It's a good question, and you're right to ask. The truth is...I don't really know. But I do trust Keith. I know he can be a bit...rash, but Keith has it in him to be a good leader one day. He's come a long way. I don't expect there to be a problem. I'd be happy to talk it over with you, if you'd like."

"No, that won't be necessary," Allura had replied. "Aiming for complete objectivity would in fact be counterproductive to the kind of mental connections you all need to help you form Voltron," she had said. "I do think you'll need to be careful, but I trust you both to practice sound judgement. I do appreciate that you've trusted me with this information."

"Yeah, of course, Princess. And thank you," he had replied. "Did you still want to sit down to dinner?" 

And they had continued their more strategically-aligned discussions, and Keith and his relationship with Shiro hadn't again entered into the conversation. But Allura couldn't help returning to the topic later, thinking about the day's revelations. What could those two see in each other? Shiro, the strong and competent leader of team Voltron, promoted at such a young age and approached to pilot a prestigious space exploration mission, and Keith, the hot-tempered and solitary paladin who had been kicked out of school and had chosen to live apart from society, following no one's rules but his own? 

Allura wasn't sure, but she hoped for the sake of the team that their opposing temperaments would provide balance and prove to be a benefit, rather than a detriment, to Voltron. The universe was counting on them. 

***

\- 5 - Lance (kinda)

So Lance isn't really the most observant of people. He knows this. 

He likes to think that when it matters, when people's lives are on the line, he's got some crazy level of intuition that gets them all out of trouble and saves the day. 

But he tends to miss the day-to-day stuff. Like, how had everyone known about Pidge (-slash-Katie) *before* him? He'd hung out with Pidge *way* longer than the rest of those losers. Except Hunk. And Hunk knew, so why didn't Lance figure it out? 

And what else was he missing?

So he tended to over exaggerate his discoveries about his teammates. Like when Hunk started keeping to himself more, and bugging Pidge about long-distance communication devices and whether they could be modified to send certain types of vibrations to a particular location, Lance *totally* figured out that Hunk wanted to check up on Shay and her race of subterranean-dwelling co-dependent living-on-a-giant-rock-monster people. 

And okay, basically everyone else had figured that out too, *but*, no one had had to tell him about it - Lance has figured it out all on his own. 

But he's also been reading too far into things on occasion. And he can tell it's irritating everyone. 

So Lance has decided to trust Hunk, his best buddy, to keep him up to date on the latest gossip. And Hunk usually follows through. 

It was a mission day; the team was on a new planet parading through a bug-infested forest filled with huge, weird-looking trees in what could have been a coniferous pine forest if it weren't for the blue-ish hue to the bark and needles. An interesting planet to visit, for sure, but they were here on business. Rumors from nearby star systems had talked about this planet holding a potential Galra hideout. 

"If you're trying to defeat Zarkon," someone had said, "you have to take out [some name that Lance doesn't actually remember]. They have a base not too far from here, [yada, yada]." 

But Shiro had remembered the name - apparently he'd run into this Galran guy at some point. So this might actually be an important mission. It was just hard to picture an outpost of the Zarkon empire *here*, in the middle of this hot and muggy and probably infectious-disease-ridden planet. 

They were trudging along on foot for some ridiculous reason (yeah, okay, to keep any atmospheric radar systems from picking up their lions, and the pods were more likely to evade detection, and whatever). The lions were standing by at a safe range above the planet with the castle, where Allura was busy filtering through scans for any signs of a hostile military force. 

"C'mon, everyone, there's a clearing up ahead - we might be getting close to something," Shiro called out, ever the optimist, keeping the team going. Even when they were literally up to their knees in some sort of wetlands filled with these creepy cattails that had actual spikes coming out of their heads. 

Lance just wanted to get back to his lion and fly through this crap. 

Sure enough, though, they eventually made it out into an open space, where they paused to look around and check for threats. 

"Allura, anything up ahead?" asked Shiro. 

"No life forms of interest, no, but there does appear to be a large underground network of some sort straight in front of you," replied Allura. "Continue straight, and you should come close to a tunnel entrance. I'll send in the lions down shortly - we don't seem to be in any danger of alerting ground forces to our presence. This planet is abandoned, at least as far as I can tell."

"Copy that," Shiro said. "Let's go, team. Keep your eye out for any signs of automatic weaponry that might be guarding this place."

So they cautiously made their way across the open space, and Lance only jumped once or twice at giant furry-looking creatures soaring overhead and brightly-colored insects scurring through the grass at their feet. No sign of Galra tech so far, though. (*knock on wood*) (not that Lance is superstitious or anything) (okay maybe a little)

In another few hundred feet, they came across some oddly-shaped underbrush that appeared out of place. 

Sure enough, Allura popped on the line a few minutes later to say, "Okay, just ahead on your right, there should be an access tunnel."

Shiro and Hunk were already clearing an opening in the dense underbrush, and pretty soon, they were all making their way through an entrance to a giant, metal tunnel extending far underground. 

About a thousand million ladder steps later, they were in a huge metal cavern of some sort, dimly lit with really neat glowy markings on the walls. 

Shiro broke them up into two teams - Keith with Hunk, and Lance and Pidge with Shiro - and they made their way down parallel tunnels leading away from the entrance. 

Not too soon after, though, Shiro started getting really tense. The further they went, the worse it got. Even Lance noticed. 

Pidge was the one to speak up, though. 

"Shiro, are you okay?" she asked, as she edged around to look at his face.

Keith, ever the alarmist, jumped on the intercom, of course. 

"What's happening over there?"

"Nothing," Shiro replied. "Everything's fine. This place is...almost familiar, though."

"Maybe we should regroup," came Keith's stubborn response. Lance rolled his eyes. This guy needed to lighten up. 

"No," Shiro replied. "It's fine. Keep moving forward. Report in if you find anything."

"Copy that," came Keith's unhappy reply. What a grouch. 

Then they rounded a corner, following Shiro's lead, and then...everything went to hell. 

A doorway to their left appeared to open up into a small room, and Shiro, weapons at the ready, pushed the creaky metal door open the rest of the way to reveal a scary-looking, backwater medical room. In the center, under a larger hanging lamp glowing the same color as the walls, was a flat metal surface with surgical instruments scattered across it. Tables and cabinets lined the walls, and looked to have been torn open and cleared out in haste - they were mostly empty, except for the occasional electronic gadget, coiled piece of wire, or tray of instruments. 

"Wow," Pidge was murmuring, eyes darting to what looked like half-formed robotic mechanisms that had been knocked to the floor between them and the table. 

As she was moving forward to get a closer look, saying over the intercoms, "Guys, I think we found someth - " - Shiro, who had been frozen in place to that point suddenly dropped. And he was, and Lance belatedly, had been making some not-very-happy sounds. 

Pidge spun around at the commotion. "Shiro? Shiro, what's happening, are you alright?" 

Not even a second later, Keith flew into the room with them - how did he find them so quickly? - and roughly pushed Lance out of the way (enough that Lance couldn't help a surprised "Hey! Watch it!") on his way over to Shiro's kneeling form, where he quickly dropped to an equal height and began talking to the man in calm, assertive tones that Lance wouldn't usually associate with stubbornly reclusive Keith. 

With a hand on Shiro's shoulder and one gripping his arm to balance him, Keith carefully pushed Shiro back into a seated position. 

By now Pidge and Hunk were crowding in as well to see what was wrong and whether they could help, but Keith shooed them away, saying, "No, give us some space." 

So they all sat back and watched as Keith pressed one hand to Shiro's chest and one hand to his neck, just under his jaw line, holding him in place, and started saying things like, "Shiro, listen to me. Focus on my voice. You need to breathe. Come on, that's it. In...out..." And he used the hand pressing on Shiro's chest to draw one of Shiro's palms to Keith's own chest. "In...out...match my breaths..."

"You're okay, you're safe, that's it, breathe..."

Allura's voice came in over the intercom - "What's happening down there? Is everyone alright? Do I need to send in backup?" 

And Keith made this kinda frustrated-growly-noise and ripped off his intercom, and then Shiro's, because Shiro, who had been calming down a bit, had tensed right back up at the new stimulus, and was back to the scary wheezy breath from before...

"We're fine, I think," Pidge replied in a small voice. "I think Shiro's having a flashback or something."

"Panic attack," said Keith. "It'll be fine. Just give us a minute." 

And Pidge relayed that over the com, because Allura and Coran couldn't hear, and Keith went back to leading Shiro's return to steady, rhythmic breathing. 

Shiro eventually blinked and began to focus. But as he got better he somehow got worse, too, like the more aware he was the more upset he became, until finally he was completely curled into Keith's shoulder and looking dazed and very reluctant to move. 

When he did pull back, Keith let him go, but Keith was keeping a very close eye on him. 

Whoa. 

When did Keith become so...caretaker-y?

And holy shit. What happened to Shiro?

Shiro, with a trembling hand, reached over for where his com had been dropped and reconnected. 

"Allura, you there?" he asked, although it took a couple tries to clear his throat and get that sentence out. 

"Shiro? Report, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just - I think I know why this place felt familiar," Shiro said, looking down at his arm - the Galra tech - with a hint of horror on his face. 

And Lance felt a breath whoosh out of him involuntarily, because what the fuck, this was one of their prisoner rooms - and maybe not Shiro, but someone else had probably been in this very room, being experimented on by the Galra. 

"The lions are waiting for you at the entrance of the tunnels," Allura said. "Fall back if you need to."

"Yeah, I think that might be a good idea," Shiro said, and tried to get to his feet. 

Keith was there in an instant, pulling him up by one arm, holding on by his elbow until he was sure Shiro was on solid footing. Shiro nodded at Keith, and got this completely devastated look on his face for just a second that almost made Lance want to burst into tears himself. But then Shiro straightened and let go of Keith and started making his way back to the door. 

"We're on our way, Allura. I'll report when we get back to base." 

"We'll be waiting, Shiro."

And the team, completely shaken at this point, some looking fairly queasy, followed Shiro's slow but even footsteps back to the ladder and up to their ships. 

At one point on the way, Shiro saw something in the hallway that made him flinch, and Keith strangely flew into action, grabbing Hunk's blaster and blowing the thing to bits. 

Everyone jumped, especially Shiro, but he kinda laughed after the fact, so it was totally worth destroying whatever crazy piece of weaponry or whatever it was, even if Pidge could have probably done recon and learned something from it. 

Back on the ship, Shiro told everyone what he could remember - he hadn't been in that room exactly, but he'd been in something similar, probably on a different base, with a similar setup. Apparently he'd been having flashbacks for a while, but this particular setup really opened some floodgates or something. This base had clearly been abandoned for some time, but they could collect intel and map the facilities in case they ran across anything similar in the future. 

Pidge was the only one anxious to get back down right away and see if she could find any sign of where the Galrans had gone from here. And maybe see whether they could tell who was held captive. 

But Allura had confirmed again that there were no advanced creatures on this planet - either Galrans or prisoners - and with a look to Shiro, they all collectively decided not to push a return to the surface just yet.

After everyone had trailed out of the room, Lance pulled Hunk aside and asked the burning question that had been on his mind ever since Shiro's scary freak-out. 

"Hunk. Buddy. Help me out here. Shiro and Keith, right? What the heck? Since when are they all like...buddy buddy? That was weird, right?"

And Hunk had put an arm around Lance's shoulders, because they were both still a little shaken from the day's events, and said, "C'mere," and ruffled his hair like the big meanie he was. "Let's go get some goop." 

And Lance had gotten dragged down the hall to the kitchen, halfway wrestling with his friend, and he completely forgot about his almost-revelation for another day. 

And if Keith disappeared for about the same amount of time as Shiro that day, that made sense - Keith was a solitary person, so he wouldn't come out and just hang out like the rest of the team did that day. 

Nothing out of the usual. 

***

\- +1 - Shiro POV!

"I want to thank everyone for coming," Shiro said, feeling oddly formal for such a deliberately informal gathering. Everyone quieted down and paid attention anyway - he'd approached each of them individually about this evening, and he could tell they were curious to hear what he had to say. 

Well, all except Hunk, who'd known all the plans for a few weeks now - the team had made a special trip to an intergalactic trade planet recently, and Shiro had sent everyone but Hunk off on different tasks so he and Hunk could purchase what they needed to make something close to pasta, one of Keith's favorite foods from Earth. 

Hunk had just emerged from the kitchen and given Shiro a thumbs-up, so Shiro was taking the chance to address everyone. 

He really hoped Keith wouldn't take this poorly. They'd talked on Shiro's last birthday about how Keith had a lot of bad memories associated with his own birthday. Like the year one of his foster homes had pulled together a celebration with cake and a couple of presents, but the other kids had caused so much trouble about it that all Keith can remember was his initial excitement before his foster brother had tossed the cake on the ground and started throwing a fit, and then all the other kids had gotten in on it, more for the attention than because they were really upset, and Keith had spent the rest of the day hiding out in his room feeling bad for causing even more problems for his foster parents. They were good people, but they'd ended up sending Keith back to the group home shortly thereafter. They'd said they really wished he could have stayed, but he just wasn't getting along as well as they'd hoped with the other kids. They'd said Keith deserved a better home with a family who could devote more time and attention to him. 

So Shiro was reluctant to make a big deal out of Keith's birthday. But at the same time, he really wanted to do something special for Keith. 

Who was looking at him now with a look of wary confusion, his body language tensed, but not looking like he was planning to run just yet - he was giving Shiro time to explain. 

Shiro had gotten everyone drinks - nothing fancy, but better than the filtered hydration units they usually drank - it was something like a flowery, sweet, caffeinated beverage that they'd found when they picked up the pasta ingredients. Pidge was already sniffing at it with curiosity. 

Shiro looked at his cup now, and wondered if he should make a toast, or just say this quickly before Keith changed his mind and left after all. 

"Keith," he said, looking over at him (keep this casual, Shiro), "I know you don't really do birthdays, but - " he looked around the table at this point, at Hunk, where he was standing near the kitchen, and noted the varying degrees of surprise on everyone's faces. Lance looked like he was trying really hard not to blurt out something about birthdays and Keith and probably something that would come across the wrong way. Hunk just flashed Shiro a reassuring grin and a nod. Shiro turned back to Keith, who was holding himself very still, as if hoping no one would look at him. 

"But I wanted to do something anyway," he hurried, before anyone could cut in. "This team - we're connected. But we're more than that - we're a family." 

That was apparently enough to quiet Lance down, who was now sitting back in his chair, looking a little nostalgic and misty-eyed. 

"So," Shiro said, deciding to raise his cup, and watching everyone else do the same, except Keith, who probably looked fine to everyone else at the table but who Shiro could tell was having a mess of conflicting emotions - sad, but a little happy, scared, cautious, maybe hopeful - "Happy birthday." 

There was an echo around the room - "Happy Birthday, Keith," from an unusually solemn and serious Coran, "Cheers," from Pidge, who looked delighted to finally get to try the new drink, a simple nod and a smile from Allura, a sulky, "We're celebrating birthdays now? I want to celebrate my birthday too," from Lance, and a boisterous "Happy Birthday, Keith!" from Hunk across the room before he headed back into the kitchen to bring out the food. 

Shiro draped his arm over the back of Keith's chair and waited out Keith's reaction to all this. 

Hunk traipsed back into the room with plate after plate of pasta, setting Keith's down in front of him and ruffling Keith's hair affectionately. 

Shiro knew that even a couple months ago, Keith would have bristled at the contact. And he would probably have had an immediately negative reaction to Shiro planning something like this behind his back. 

He looked over at Keith now, who was staring at his plate as everyone else started enthusiastically eating around them. It didn't quite look like pasta, but Hunk had done an amazing job, as usual. Shiro would have to do something special to thank him later. 

Then Keith looked over at Shiro from where he'd been hidden behind his long hair and oh, no - he was crying. Silently, and barely noticeably, a couple of tears slid down his face. Shiro took a deep breath and waited to see what Keith would say. 

And then all of a sudden Keith lunged over and wrapped his arms around Shiro's shoulders and pressed his forehead to Shiro's temple and Shiro could hear, and feel, as Keith took a slow and shuddery breath, in, out. Keith Squeezed Shiro's shoulders even tighter for just a second and whispered, "Thank you." 

And then he pulled back, scrubbed his face, and grabbed a fork and started eating. 

Shiro couldn't help a small smile forming. He left his arm across the back of Keith's chair, now gently running a thumb over Keith's neck above the uniform he was still wearing from training with the simulator earlier. 

Shiro picked up his own fork to try the pasta - it tasted weird, like when you're used to one brand of milk and then you try something completely different and your taste buds have to readjust and relearn the flavor - but despite the alien ingredients, it was really good. 

Lance, who was staring intently at Shiro's hand on Keith's neck, started sputtering and pointing at them, saying, "You - what - you two are - " and then he started flapping his hands around crazily. 

No one at the table paid him much attention, except Keith, who must have been looking for a distraction and said in a sarcastic tone, "Once again, the infamous Lance displays his truly remarkable powers of observation." 

Lance bristled at that. Of course.

Shiro usually tried to keep his feelings for Keith separate from team dynamics. He would normally have tried to step in here and diffuse the situation, but at the moment, he was just so relieved that Keith was acting normally that he didn't think too much about it. 

Pidge, sitting next to Lance, elbowed Lance jovially and said, "He does have a point there." 

For a second it looked like Lance would protest anyway - he didn't really take things lying down, which could be a benefit to the team, as annoying as he could be at times like these - but then Lance looked down at his plate and said, "Yeah, I guess," in the saddest, most dejected tone that took everyone completely by surprise, like they'd just watched a balloon sadly deflate instead of explosively popping. 

Allura was the first to start laughing, and Hunk joined in, and pretty soon they were all laughing for different reasons and talking over each other, and Hunk was retelling some story about a time Lance had hit on the wrong alien, and then Coran started telling a story about a race of tiny but terrifying alien creatures that had tried to overtake the castle back in the day, and Hunk said he hoped they never ran into those tiny alien terrors this time around, and Shiro looked around at all these people and just felt - at home. They were countless light years away from Earth, from their families, from their lives. But they had each other, he thought, and somehow, for now, that was enough. 

~~°•*-*•°~~

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://tumblr.com/blog/kkfanfix-sheith) <3 
> 
> \-----
> 
> Warning on part 5: panic attack
> 
>  
> 
> I would love to take a stab at a more Sheith-centric fic next exploring, in this verse, how they might have gotten together. I'm in a master's program now though, and working full time, so that may take a while!
> 
> Critiques/thoughts welcome


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